Co-op to sell food past "best before" for 10p

All that sugar - should have no expiry date at all!

I gave GS a bar of Kendal Mint Cake from our treats box to boost his energy at a sporting event. Next day he said "You know Granny, that mint cake expired the year that I was born, but I ate it anyway". That's my boy! and no ill after-effects either.

paddyann yes, well done Aldi, but as MamaCaz said
I can't help feeling that a much better and more logical long-term solution would be for them to stop buying so much stock in the first place so that they don't end up with so much out of date food!

Or is this extra food that they are ordering in specially?

Some supermarkets always used to do this Welshwife, can't remember which ones now.
I know that M&S sell the on-date food to staff at the end of the day.

Tinned food should be fine, so would dried food. I do try not to buy too much but DH pops things into the trolley he thinks he 'needs' then doesn't eat .

I made a lot of my own chutney when we had a glut - made in 2015, no idea about the best before date! Still just fine.l

Aldi is advertising in our local paper that they will have around 20 or 30 crates of food available on christmas eve for organisations who feed the homeless or for foodbanks ..this 20 or 30 crates will be available from EVERY Aldi store...well done them .The organisations have to register before the date of collection and have transport

Its scary. I throw stuff out regularly past its date. Im terrified of being ill. The coop are offering cheap food to those who cant afford any better. After all tinned food lasts for ages anyway. Ive got some now dated 2020. Who wants 2 or three year old food.

I saw a report on food waste the other day and the man was saying that if you froze the food by the best by or use by date it was fine. The CoOp said it was not going to sell fresh food in this scheme but surely they could do it on a daily basis with the food at the end of its time and sell that for 10p too after say 4 pm each day. Once people got used to the plan it would go well. I think it is an excellent idea.

While I am all in favour of the Co-op doing this, I can't help feeling that a much better and more logical long-term solution would be for them to stop buying so much stock in the first place so that they don't end up with so much out of date food! (However, I have never worked in a food shop so dont know how hard it is to match supply to demand.)

It's only the East of England Co-op doing this unfortunately, but I hope it leads to others following suit. I'd be there like a shot if they were in my neighbourhood. Though it is good to know that some other chains give their sell by date stock to charity.

Yes, there is.
I joined Hugh's War on Waste ages ago but haven't heard from them in a while. I should check up on progress.

Jalima they might, I'm not sure. All I know is that there is an enormous amount of food waste in the UK.

Aldi is advertising that they are giving all their unsold "Festive Food" to charities on Christmas Eve, there's an application form that has to be filled in by 8th December I think.

They did say they tried to give it away to customers but there were no takers - however, paying a bargain price for something seems to appeal far more.

Don't some supermarkets already give such food to shelters, charities, FareShare etc or is this fresh food on its sell-by date?

I've never paid any attention to "best before" dates or even "sell by" or "use by dates". I judge for myself whether food is edible and hardly ever thew anything out. I believe tinned food can last indefinitely.

Our East of England Coop has always had great markdowns on short dated fresh food and I shall look out for 10p items. We always have stuff in the cupboard past the best before date.....

Good for the Co-op. I hope others follow its lead.

An excellent idea. It’s a win win situation. How many of us buy dry goods and then leave them in the cupboard and use later than the best by date?
I know I’ve done this with a variety of cake ingredients, all OK when cooked.

I like the co-ops food, so getting it for a bargain price will be even better.

I will be down at my local co-op like a shot. I already buy the reduced for quick sale food on the counter beside the till.

Yes, people go for it, this roll-out is in response to a trial in certain areas.

Greyduster they are expecting to save 30,000 items per year that would have been thrown out.

Our local Waitrose are a bit cheeky with their "marked-down" items for "Use by", sometimes it is just 20p less than the original price. So it just doesn't sell.

Excellent idea - but will people go for it? I would.

Let’s hope the others follow suit!

I m happy to buy ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ they never go off on the date it says in my opinion
I ll enjoy buying 10p items

Yes, it is a good idea, but I think it is the food with ‘use by’ dates on that creates more waste than ‘best before’.

Its an excellent idea!